Project Farm tests locking pliers.

[whateg01]

The pair I'm using for a door handle has a Phillips screw... that I put there to replace the missing screw.

I'm sure I'd have thrown them out if I were more smarter.

My favorite pair is a popular mechanics smallish set, maybe 5" long, that I long ago lost the screw for. I welded a short piece of 1/4" pipe to a carriage bolt and that's how it's been for at least the last 10 years. Iirc, it was the first thing I welded with my harbor freight tig welder.

 

[ecotec]

That's why Eagle Grip died. Vice grips, particularly used in welding, one of it's primary purposes, turns Vice Grips into spatter covered trash rather quickly. Why Eagle Grip figured it could charge $60 a pair for something most of us consider to be disposable is a mystery to me.

I just read this whole thread, and I think that the first post was the most valid.

The price point that Malco chose killed them.

I see a lot of hate for garage/estate sales in this thread… but, if you do like them… they are a good place to find Vise-Grips. I would, definitely, disagree with whoever said that most of the pre-owned ones are worn out. In my experience, that just isn’t true. I would say that it would be a good choice to buy the lightly used ones. If you think that going to sales is a waste of your precious free time, it is. Only you can decide whether it is worth it to hunt for used tools.

Here are some of mine. I make an effort to only buy them when they are cheap and have lightly used teeth. I buy them in the $1-$4 price range… so, in theory, I can get 15-60 pairs for the price of one pair of Malco’s. That, obviously, does not factor in time and gas.

 

[rooster59]

6in1 screwdriver, hammer, Channellock’s, Vise Grips w/built in wire cutter, 10in adj wrench, 90mph tape, appropriate lengths of wire and paracord, WD-40. Can’t imagine leaving the house without.

I’ve always turned the adjustment, then squeezed Vise Grips. Also use a set of hand grip exercisers regularly to fight off getting weaker.

 

[ararat]

For years after Newell-Rubbermaid bought the Vise-Grip brand, people who used locking pliers regularly were lamenting the decline in quality.
According to posts on GJ, from people who supposedly lived in the town with the original Vise-Grip factory, the first thing Newell did after buying Vise-Grip was to change the specs on the steel to a lower quality, cheaper steel.
There are various purchasers for locking pliers, and one of those groups is welders, who simply use the pliers to clamp pieces together quickly for welding or braising.
The pliers used for welding get gunked and trashed quickly, so lower cost is important, although better steel alloys will last longer in these applications as well.
The other major group of people who useVise-Grips, need a plier that will lock on like a rabid pit bull, and hold onto whatever part needs to be torqued due to rust, or permanent Loctite, and then have the locking pliers hammered on or torqued with a 6’ cheater bar.
This second group of users basically need locking pliers made to the original Vise-Grip specs, or the Malco specs.
Most users aren’t going to differentiate between the licking pliers though, and don’t want to spend the Malco/Snap-On prices which cost more than a pair of Knipex chrome plated pliers (the regular ones, not the locking ones) for a tool they will weld with.
Because of this, there wasn’t a large enough market for the higher priced locking pliers, to sustain production in a facility that only made locking pliers.
The Facom pliers that open ridiculously wide give more versatile use than the older Petersen design, which is the reason Facom can keep these in production, as well as the fact that the producer who makes the pliers for Facom/Stanley also manufactures other items.

Newell destroyed so many American brands.

 

[M635_Guy]

Me either. And we were a factory-direct warehouse distributor of Petersen in the early 1980s. Sold a hell of a lot of them.
Never knew that was a feature.

My old Petersons don't have a hex or 1/4" to tighten after.

I have to admit I've never done that - I'm just a general-duty/DIY guy with a lot of focus on automotive. I don't weld at all. When I was doing my little comparo a while back I thought the Bremen's 1/4" was the most sensible, and surprised anyone did a hex. Milwaukee's design was also pretty common-sense (use a screwdriver), but that was about the only thing I liked about them.

I'm going to guess my Peterson pairs are from the 70's, and the Bremens are as good or better. The Malco pairs are just outstanding. It's so clear holding them that they're the best.

 

[Ohio Andy]

I bought a pair of bremen's from harbor freight to try them and they had a lot of problems so I just returned them. I know a lot of you had a lot of good luck but I just went. You know what it's not worth my time. Kind of wish I'd just open them in the store to find out but I bought one set of Pittsburgh. Came with a set of three different ones. Two were fine. One was a problem but I was able to swap that one out but again it was another trip.

I've never found decent tools at any garage sale near me. I have a friend who lives an hour away out in the country and he drives even further away and finds a lot of stuff. That's really nice, not that I've ever seen him come back with locking pliers, but he'll spend 2 days a week doing this. Am I straight up? Don't have literally days after driving a couple hours just to find a deal on locking pliers.

So I tried ordering some Petersons through eBay and I tried two different sellers, two pairs and both had internal rust on stuff you couldn't see so they didn't really work super well. I kept them but I won't use them. Probably should just pitch them.

I have a bunch of other brands that are okay for The majority of the jobs were okay is good enough.

You could say I do not have garage sale foo... But the reality is it has to do with location. So I'm happy for all of you who are able to find good deals on Peterson's but I've had really bad luck trying to buy used.

 

[cdoublejj]

At work i use locking pliers to clamp onto the end of 12 ft lengths of steel, from steel deliveries of flat bar. Like 1/2x6", 3/4x4", 1x5" we're talking 50, 100, 200lb lengths of steel where the size I need is stacked 6 pieces deep under others on the ground.
I lock them on the end, put a strap through them and pull them out with a fork lift.

Cheap locking pliers last about 2 months.

How are the Malcos holding up to that abuse?

 

[funkymonkey1111]

Oh, yeah, I know who tightens VGs that way: No one, ever. At least, no one I've seen in decades of using clamping pliers and being around others doing so.

Well Irwins DO say "Vise Grip The Original" right on them.



so they must be the original, right?

Glad I'm not the only one who can't stand the livestock auctioneer delivery.

If there was only a way for you to not watch the vids....

 

[Beerhippie]

If there was only a way for you to not watch the vids....

I watched one. That's how you learn what to avoid in the future.

 

[YesIHaveAHammer]

I was surprised to see the Grip-On do so poorly, considering how many brands have used them for their branded version (Proto, Channellock, etc.). They have often been pretty well regarded, but perhaps there were not many options to compare them too for a long time.

most of the tool testing videos I have seen test things that don't matter most of the time to most users

Indeed. I'd seen the video and thread but not looked at them, but in the meantime ordered another Grip-on Omnium 131 this time in 7" (nominal, actually 8"/200mm). Not the same jaw shape as tested.

Now I've seen they came 2nd from last overall, and bottom 5 in all categories. I really don't care, because this:

 

[GeoBruin]

Torque Test Channel released their video. Different testing methodology and they tested a couple different applications, but in many ways there were similar results. The high points are that the Eagle Grips are simply untouchable, the Irwin Vise Grips perform very well, the Bremen from Harbor freight are a really good value, and the Knipex are terrible, due mostly to their jaws being so soft.

 

[M635_Guy]

Torque Teast Channel released their video. Different testing methodology and they tested a couple different applications, but in many ways there were similar results. The high points are that the Eagle Grips are simply untouchable, the Irwin Vise Grips perform very well, the Bremen from Harbor freight are a really good value, and the Knipex are terrible, due mostly to their jaws being so soft.

I was glad to see the Bremen included, as my impressions of it have been very good. It was very interesting to see the Irwins have updated/improved.

The results were amazingly consistent with my extremely-unscientific non-testing comparison I did a while back: Wasn't impressed at all with the Milwaukee or the cheapo Pittsburghs. The vintage Petersens were pretty good, but hard to find nice ones and kinda pricey compared to the Bremen. Back then I left the MiC Irwins on the shelf because looking at them in-store and comparing to the Bremen pair I already owned it was pretty clear they weren't great. Between the several pair of Malcos I own and the others I have, I can't really justify having a pair of the Irwins, but it's nice to know they exist as a quality option now.

I wish they'd done a pair of NOS Petersen - would be interesting to see how well they performed. I'm not sure if/how quality changed while they were made in DeWitt.

 

[KnurledNut]

Torque Teast Channel released their video. Different testing methodology and they tested a couple different applications, but in many ways there were similar results. The high points are that the Eagle Grips are simply untouchable, the Irwin Vise Grips perform very well, the Bremen from Harbor freight are a really good value, and the Knipex are terrible, due mostly to their jaws being so soft.

I was disappointed they didn’t include the original Petersen as a baseline.

 

[GeoBruin]

I was disappointed they didn’t include the original Petersen as a baseline.

Everyone keeps saying this but I don't see how that works. They would either have to find some New Old Stock Petersen's which are probably worth their weight in gold (if they even exist) or else they're testing used vise grips, which doesn't offer any valuable data.

 

[Ohio Andy]

Everyone keeps sayong this but I don't see how that works. They would either have to find some New Old Stock Petersen's which are probably worth their weight in gold (if they even exist) or else they're testing used vise grips, which doesn't offer any valuable data.

If you live in Alaska, I think the company name is Denali and they have the old malco's in stock, at least some of them.

Otherwise, for about $100 a pair you could buy the USA made snap-ons. Lp10f is back ordered and I think the lp7f is in stock. I'm going from memory so I could be wrong. Note that with shipping it's about the same as the malco's ordered out of Alaska to Ohio where I am.

 

[GeoBruin]

If you live in Alaska, I think the company name is Denali and they have the old malco's in stock, at least some of them.

Otherwise, for about $100 a pair you could buy the USA made snap-ons. Lp10f is back ordered and I think the lp7f is in stock. I'm going from memory so I could be wrong. Note that with shipping it's about the same as the malco's ordered out of Alaska to Ohio where I am.

The LP10f and LP7f are likely still in stock because nobody wants them. To this day I haven't figured out why you would ever want flat jawed vise grips over curved jaws.

Edit: Also, I tried to purchase a pair from Denali and while they show as in stock, you can't check out.

 

[Ohio Andy]

The LP10f and LP7f are likely still in stock because nobody wants them. To this day I haven't figured out why you would ever want flat jawed vise grips over curved jaws.

Edit: Also, I tried to purchase a pair from Denali and while they show as in stock, you can't check out.

If you scroll all the way to the right, you'll see that there are three asterisks next to at least one item in your cart... I didn't actually load your graphic to look at it, but you will probably see that at least one of your items has three small asterisks and you have to move that item from the card before you can check out.

Don't ask how I know

 

[mikey03]

If the fools at MALCO would have priced these at the price that Amazon is currently selling these for they would have been a great hit.

Lots of stuff would be real popular if it was sold at a loss from what it cost to make

there only this cheap now because they went bankrupt and the bank sold off things for whatever they could get to get rid of it fast

 

[GeoBruin]

If you scroll all the way to the right, you'll see that there are three asterisks next to at least one item in your cart... I didn't actually load your graphic to look at it, but you will probably see that at least one of your items has three small asterisks and you have to move that item from the card before you can check out.

Don't ask how I know

That's my point though. The only thing in my cart is a pair of Eagle grips. I tried both the 7" and 10" (separately) and got the same result.

 

[dnschmidt]

Lots of stuff would be real popular if it was sold at a loss from what it cost to make

there only this cheap now because they went bankrupt and the bank sold off things for whatever they could get to get rid of it fast

It never took Peterson $70.00 to make a simple pair of Vice Grips. This had nothing to do with manufacturing cost but a lot to do with corporate greed. They simply priced themselves out of the market. When a Vice-Grip from Malco cost more than a pliers wrench from Knipex, made in a much higher labor cost country: Germany, something is wrong.

 

[KnurledNut]

Lots of stuff would be real popular if it was sold at a loss from what it cost to make

there only this cheap now because they went bankrupt and the bank sold off things for whatever they could get to get rid of it fast

The TTC video was wrong about Malco saying they are no longer in business.
They discontinued the short-lived Eagle Grip production line, but the company is alive and profitable as they have been for decades.
Amazes me sometimes the errors TTC makes, but his hands are pretty soft.
When the rumors first started here about the plant idling, I hypothesized that Malco might sell out the line to Snap-on. My guess wasn't far off.

Either way, this test would have been more fun and educational, not to mention an honorable tribute to Mr. Petersen and the folks in Dewitt had they included the original version that caused all these other brands to exist.

 

[Ohio Andy]

That's my point though. The only thing in my cart is a pair of Eagle grips. I tried both the 7" and 10" (separately) and got the same result.

Interesting. I had checked this morning which is the only reason I know about him and one of the items they had in stock but they wanted to charge $77 to ship it ground. And one of the items I wanted was out of stock. I don't actually remember what they yeah and which one was out of stock.

My best guess is that they had 10-in straight jaw and were out of 10-in curved jaw.

 

[GeoBruin]

It never took Peterson $70.00 to make a simple pair of Vice Grips. This had nothing to do with manufacturing cost but a lot to do with corporate greed. They simply priced themselves out of the market. When a Vice-Grip from Malco cost more than a pliers wrench from Knipex, made in a much higher labor cost country: Germany, something is wrong.

Petersen hasn't made vise grips in over 20 years. Inflation and labor costs have gone up a lot in that time. Also, Petersen was well established by the time they sold out. Malco had newly acquired the facility, equipment, and labor. They were still establishing themselves. It's frankly apples and oranges trying to compare Petersen's cost to make Vise Grips in 2000 and Malco in 2023.

 

[dchawk81]

That's why Eagle Grip died. Vice grips, particularly used in welding, one of it's primary purposes, turns Vice Grips into spatter covered trash rather quickly. Why Eagle Grip figured it could charge $60 a pair for something most of us consider to be disposable is a mystery to me.

Eagle grips are awesome as actual vise grips and not just beater clamps when welding.

 

[KnurledNut]

It never took Peterson $70.00 to make a simple pair of Vice Grips. This had nothing to do with manufacturing cost but a lot to do with corporate greed. They simply priced themselves out of the market. When a Vice-Grip from Malco cost more than a pliers wrench from Knipex, made in a much higher labor cost country: Germany, something is wrong.

My Malco aviation snips are $50 now and worth every penny. When a tool is used professionally and pays for itself many times over because it works well, a premium becomes less of an issue.

 

[WhataTool]

Either way, this test would have been more fun and educational, not to mention an honorable tribute to Mr. Petersen and the folks in Dewitt had they included the original version that caused all these other brands to exist.

Then there's this comment on the video about testing the discontinued Malco's

@grahamnimmo4656
8 hours ago
So your testing a tool that is no longer made and none of can now buy! Great!

Despite doing all the things in this video that most people said should have been done the 1st 2 pages of this thread, people are still not going to be all the way happy so i'm surprised anyone even tries

 

[Ohio Andy]

Then there's this comment on the video about testing the discontinued Malco's
@grahamnimmo4656
8 hours ago
So your testing a tool that is no longer made and none of can now buy! Great!

Despite doing all the things in this video that most people said should have been done the 1st 2 pages of this thread, people are still not going to be all the way happy so i'm surprised anyone even tries

Many tests use the old Craftsman USA made stuff that you can't buy new anymore either. The thing is that it gives us a reference point based on something that we all know

 

[ecotec]

My Malco aviation snips are $50 now and worth every penny. When a tool is used professionally and pays for itself many times over because it works well, a premium becomes less of an issue.

Their 2000 series tin snips are my favorite snips. They are way better than Wiss or Midwest.

 

[four.cycle]

Well... it might be considered that other than Malco, no manufacturer has yet managed to design and manufacture a pair of locking pliers that measures up to the original Dewitt-made Petersens, so there's that.
A second-hand pair of original Petersen vise-grips is still a superior tool to others currently available on the market, so it should seem reasonable to "test" others against that standard.

Just because the only thing available on the market today are cheesy imitations that don't make the cut is no reason to ignore the fact that at one point in time somebody actually produced one that was worth a damn.

 

[dnschmidt]

My Malco aviation snips are $50 now and worth every penny. When a tool is used professionally and pays for itself many times over because it works well, a premium becomes less of an issue.

Look at what it takes to make a pair of aviation snips (I personally prefer Midwest but that's just me) to the effort it takes to bend sheet metal to make a Vice Grip and Malco's pricing of the Eagle Grip pliers just gets dumber by the minute. Fedwrench and I both agreed when these first were introduced that they were DOA when we saw the pricing.

 

[Benito]

The TTC video was wrong about Malco saying they are no longer in business.
They discontinued the short-lived Eagle Grip production line, but the company is alive and profitable as they have been for decades.
Amazes me sometimes the errors TTC makes, but his hands are pretty soft.

I only heard the vid say they no longer make them.
But the idea that people working all day with grizzled hands are typically the historian tool experts about who made what and when and not keyboard warriors like on garage journal is a pretty amazing thought experiment, so thanks for that

 

[GeoBruin]

Well... it might be considered that other than Malco, no manufacturer has yet managed to design and manufacture a pair of locking pliers that measures up to the original Dewitt-made Petersens, so there's that.
A second-hand pair of original Petersen vise-grips is still a superior tool to others currently available on the market, so it should seem reasonable to "test" others against that standard.

Just because the only thing available on the market today are cheesy imitations that don't make the cut is no reason to ignore the fact that at one point in time somebody actually produced one that was worth a damn.

But until someone performs such a test, how can you be so sure nothing else today stacks up against the original Petersen's? You act like it's a given.

 

[neophyte]

Everyone keeps saying this but I don't see how that works. They would either have to find some New Old Stock Petersen's which are probably worth their weight in gold (if they even exist) or else they're testing used vise grips, which doesn't offer any valuable data.

Petersen made ridiculously large numbers of Vise-Grips, to the point were “old stock” Petersen era vise grips still show up on eBay, and can even sometimes be found at older hardware stores that were never good at stock turnover, or which purchased the pliers by the pallet for a better price.
Admittedly, the “old stock” is getting scarcer on eBay, but it still turns up, just usually at a cost now higher than the original Malco Eagle Grip price.
Project Farm guy just probably didn’t want to bother paying the price, or scouring eBay.
Farm duties and actually doing a test video each week likely puts a bit of a damper on extra free time.

 

[GeoBruin]

Petersen made ridiculously large numbers of Vise-Grips, to the point were “old stock” Petersen era vise grips still show up on eBay, and can even sometimes be found at older hardware stores that were never good at stock turnover, or which purchased the pliers by the pallet for a better price.
Admittedly, the “old stock” is getting scarcer on eBay, but it still turns up, just usually at a cost now higher than the original Malco Eagle Grip price.
Project Farm guy just probably didn’t want to bother paying the price, or scouring eBay.
Farm duties and actually doing a test video each week likely puts a bit of a damper on extra free time.

Well I've got the Malco's and enough equipment to reproduce a reasonable comparison test if someone wants to send me a pair of Petersen's or two!

 

[HalfTonTom]

Torque Teast Channel released their video. Different testing methodology and they tested a couple different applications, but in many ways there were similar results. The high points are that the Eagle Grips are simply untouchable, the Irwin Vise Grips perform very well, the Bremen from Harbor freight are a really good value, and the Knipex are terrible, due mostly to their jaws being so soft.

Thank you, GeoBruin. I've been trying to figure out what the @#$!! TCC stands for.

 

[four.cycle]

You act like it's a given.

Yes.
Because it is.

Ask anyone on this forum.

 

[WWheeler]

My non-scientific real-world use experiences between NOS Petersen-Dewitt Vise Grips and Malcos is that the Malcos are quite a bit better. IIRC didn't Malco buy and operate out of the old Vise Grip plant in Dewitt? In any case it's been my experience that during their time in the building they seem to have made some solid improvements over the old Vise Grip design. I wish I'd bought more than a couple of the Malcos, but I can be a cheapskate. All the brands I've used seem to function well enough for my purposes, and I still have at least a dozen of the O.G. Petersens.

I have many of the different brands tested, but the main thing I got out of TTC's testing vid is that I'm glad I never bought any of the Knipex locking pliers. Perhaps the pair they had for testing was just from an odd bad batch, and not generally representative of them? Everything I've ever had by Knipex has been top tier compared to other brands of like tools.

 

[dchawk81]

Imagine getting angry because someone tests something you can't get, and can easily ignore anyway.

 

[GeoBruin]

Yes.
Because it is.

Ask anyone on this forum.

My non-scientific real-world use experiences between NOS Petersen-Dewitt Vise Grips and Malcos is that the Malcos are quite a bit better. IIRC didn't Malco buy and operate out of the old Vise Grip plant in Dewitt? In any case it's been my experience that during their time in the building they seem to have made some solid improvements over the old Vise Grip design. I wish I'd bought more than a couple of the Malcos, but I can be a cheapskate. All the brands I've used seem to function well enough for my purposes, and I still have at least a dozen of the O.G. Petersens.

I have many of the different brands tested, but the main thing I got out of TTC's testing vid is that I'm glad I never bought any of the Knipex locking pliers.

Look at that! I didn't even have to ask!

 

[four.cycle]

exactly!